Everyone's getting World Cup fever at the moment — and BBC One's cozy evening treat The Repair Shop is no different. Tonight's episode will feature what the BBC described as "a rather fragile piece of football history", one specifically from the 1996 World Cup.
The instalment will see Steph and her daughter Alison come to the team hoping that the Teddy Bear Ladies can restore their treasured World Cup Willie, an anthropomorphic lion mascot from the time that holds a lot more sentimental value for the family.
Steph bought it at the 1966 World Cup, which England won. She attended every match at Wembley with her partner Chris, who she later married and had Alison with.
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Sadly, he died suddenly shortly after Alison was born, and now the World Cup Willie serves as one of the few physical objects they have that reminds them of Chris.
Unfortunately, the mascot has suffered heavy damage and deterioration after seeing on a damp windowsill for years.
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"Because they weren't together very long, [World Cup Willie is] the only thing that I have that connects my mum and dad," Alison said. "So, he's quite special to me as well.
"I loved seeing footage of the game because I look at it and I think my dad's in there somewhere and that's a really weird feeling. So, he's kind of like a moment in time."
"He hasn't been out of my possession since I bought him, so I'm hoping he can watch this World Cup," Steph added. "Hopefully he'll be a good omen."
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Can teddy bear experts Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch work their magic, or will this football mascot not be coming home for Steph and Alison?
Meanwhile, if you want to watch more football-related stuff on the TV this week (apart from, of course, the football), we've rounded up nine films to keep you in the spirit.
The Repair Shop World Cup episode will air at 8pm tonight on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
